The use of ESU pencils for cutting tissue and coagulating blood vessels in surgical procedures is well known. When an ESU pencil is used for cutting or coagulation, smoke is produced. In the past, when a surgeon wanted to evacuate this smoke from the surgical field, the surgeon or an assistant had to hold a plastic suction wand, connected to vacuum tubing, near the site of smoke production. This became cumbersome in many surgical procedures, because two hands were required—one operating the ESU pencil and the other holding the suction device—and because the suction wand often obscured the surgeon's view of the surgical field. Therefore, smoke evacuation devices were developed which were either incorporated directly into the design of an ESU pencil or were attachable to an ESU pencil.
Built-in or attachable smoke evacuation devices have also proved problematic, however. Like the suction wand, these devices must be connected to a vacuum source via a vacuum tube. The vacuum tubing generally used is stiff, corrugated, rubber tubing. Due to its stiffness, the tubing often coils in such a way that it twists the ESU pencil in the hand of the surgeon and pulls down the other end of the ESU pencil. This pulling and twisting of the ESU pencil is problematic in delicate surgical procedures and often requires the surgeon to stop frequently to uncoil the tubing. Therefore, more flexible vacuum tubing has been tried. However, this tubing is either too soft, so that it collapses under suction, or too narrow, so that it obstructs airflow. These various problems with vacuum tubing have led many surgeons to not use built-in or attached smoke evacuation devices on ESU pencils. But the only alternative is the separate suction wand, which is often too cumbersome or visually obstructing. A separate suction wand also requires a second person to hold it on site which many times interferes with the work of the surgeon.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved connection between an ESU pencil's built-in or attached smoke evacuation system and a vacuum tube. Such a connection would allow the vacuum tube to twist and/or swivel without turning the ESU pencil in the surgeon's hand. The vacuum tube may twist in a clockwise and/or counterclockwise direction. This improved connection would reduce the drag (or pulling down of) the distal end of the ESU pencil (i.e. that end of the ESU pencil opposite the electrode). In addition, the vacuum tube may also pivot in vertical up and down directions. The connection would also remain airtight, so that the force of the smoke evacuation system's vacuum is not reduced.
A need also exists for an improved connection between an ESU pencil and the electrical cord attached to the ESU pencil that allows the electrical cord to twist thereby facilitating a surgeon's use of the ESU pencil by reducing the drag or pulling down of the distal end of the ESU pencil (i.e. that end of the ESU pencil opposite the electrode).